2020 polls: CSOs-led peace campaigns low – CODEO

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has said there is a low level of civic voter education activities across the country ahead of the December polls.

According to CODEO, Civil Society Organisations-led interventions in support of the December polls, particularly peace promotion campaigns, have reduced.

This was contained in a pre-election observation statement for the month of September 2020 by CODEO.

As part of its comprehensive observation of the 7 December 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections of Ghana, CODEO deployed sixty-five (65) Long-Term Observers (LTOs) across the country from September 1, 2020.

The observers were deployed to 65 purposively selected areas “which include a mix of constituencies in areas that are considered as stronghold, swing/competitive, and hot-spot as well as some constituencies along border communities in the country”.

“Since their deployment, the observers have been monitoring the general electoral and political environment, including the activities of key election stakeholders such as the Electoral Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), political parties, the security agencies, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and religious and traditional leaders,” the statement noted.

The statement continued that: “Some disregard for COVID-19 health and safety protocols was observed at some political party activities. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), are the most visible political parties in the constituencies observed as far as political and campaigning and related activities are concerned.

“The exhibition of the provisional voter register by the Electoral Commission witnessed some challenges, particularly with regard to missing names from some registers at some exhibition centres.”

On Civic/Voter Education Platforms/Modes, Actors and Targeted Audience, CODEO observed that “civic and voter education activities were quite low in the observed constituencies.

“The NCCE and the EC have so far been leading some civic and voter education activities in the constituencies observed, followed by political parties and religious bodies. Very few civic/voter education and other election-related activities (such as peace promotion) by CSOs were noted in the observed constituencies.”

Also, on Campaigning activities by political parties, CODEO said: “Political and campaigning activities, mainly by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), have been in earnest in the observed constituencies.

“There was, however, little visibility of campaigning activities by other political parties. At campaign activities, the main policy issues that were raised or discussed particularly by the NPP and the NDC were education, unemployment and the economy.”

While, “COVID-19 health and safety protocols were observed at some campaign activities, the protocols were not adhered to in other instances.

“For instance, at Tikobo No. 1 in the Jomoro constituency in the Western region, some party supporters of the NPP did not wear nose masks neither did they observe social distancing during a health walk through the principal streets of the town. Similar observations were noted during some meetings organised by two other political parties – the Ghana Union Movement (GUM) and the NDC in the same constituency.”

On observations made with regard to “Abuse of Incumbency,” CODEO revealed that “there were a few reports about the use of official public, state-supported or state-organised events for political campaigning. These included the use of public (state or local) vehicles for campaigning activities. For instance, on September 2, 2020, an official vehicle of the Juaboso District Assembly was used to convey some political party supporters on a campaign tour.”

CODEO also noted that during the nation-wide exhibition of the Provisional Voter Register carried out by the EC, “centres on six out of the ten days of the exercise during which they observed a total of 389 exhibition centres across the 65 constituencies under observation. Generally, the exercise recorded a low turn-out with majority (77%) of observed centres recording a daily attendance of less than 50 persons.

“On the last day of the exercise, while CODEO noted that 65% of 65 exhibition centres observed in the day recorded turn-out of 50% or more, the remaining 35% recorded turn-out of fewer than 50%. While some centers recorded very impressive turn-out figures, others recorded very low turn-out. For instance, while the Bewadze D/A Primary School Exhibition Centre in the Gomoa West Constituency in the Central Region recorded turn-out of nearly 99% at the end of the 10 days of the exercise, the Atomic Hill Demo School Exhibition Centre in the Dome Kwabenya Constituency in the Greater Accra recorded a turn-out of 20% for the entire exercise. The exhibition exercise was generally peaceful but marked by some challenges in relation to missing names from the provisional voter register at some centres observed.”

At the just-ended one-day Voter registration exercise, CODEO said it observed “the presence of party agents from the NPP and the NDC at most centres observed, while a few centres had in addition agents from other political parties such as the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP), The People’s National Convention (PNC) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP).”

It added that: “The exercise was generally smooth and calm with few reported incidents of chaos and acts of violence. For example, in Assin North Constituency in the Central Region, violence broke out between agents of the NPP and NDC over alleged registration of suspected under-aged persons and accusations over the abuse of the ‘challenge procedure’. This led to the dismissal of a party agent from the center by the Registration Officer. The registration process was halted for some minutes and subsequently resumed following the intervention of the security personnel present. Similar incidents were recorded at a few other registration centres.”